All time Lows
by Rapture-Taylore
Summary: Sakura goes to the police to report a crime,after not being taken seriously she is directed Sasuke, Naruto and Sai who have been confined to the basement and agree to help her with her case. Hints of romance between Sasuke and Sakura but nothing concrete.
1. Chapter 1

**All-time Lows; I never done good things**

Sakura crept through the dark corridors of the police station, pulling her coat firmly around her and hunching her shoulder in an effort to make herself seem smaller. She entered a dull room full of junk and boxes and took a deep breath.

She had been advised by a woman in the police to come here for help after her claim wasn't taken seriously in the main office. No one took this kind of thing seriously in the police it seemed. They took one look at a pretty girl and assume she was just asking for it.

Sakura's cheeks burned as she recalled their laughter as she left the large spacious offices. She had been called back by a middle aged police woman who introduced herself as Tsunade. Tsunade had apologised for the behaviour of her colleagues and directed her to this dark place as a place to be taken seriously if she really wanted to go through with her claim.

"Their methods might be a bit unorthodox," Tsuande had said, "but they'll take you seriously and try to bring about justice for you if they can."

Sakura had thanked her and following her directions had ended up here, in what looked like the lost and found area.

"Oh, what is this?" Sakura asked herself, sitting down on a box which sagged slightly under her weight. "I should just go home." She muttered.

"Um, hello there?" An uncertain voice made her jump as she saw a dark figure in the room with her carrying a box. "Do you need some help?"

"I was told to come here by someone called Tsunade, but I think I may be in the wrong place."

"Well if your looking to get something investigated and press charges then you're in the right place."

"Here?" Sakura looked sceptical, and the man nodded, "really?"

"They're just trying to get rid of us." Another, more cheerful voice said in her ear. Sakura jumped and turned round to see a blond haired man behind her, he gave her a broad smile. "We have to high a success rate and make everyone else feel bad." He said smiling.

"Are you sure?" His companion asked, "It's not because Uchiha has a habit of pissing our bosses off?" The blond man scowled at him.

"That to, but," He gave Sakura a reassuring smile, "We always manage to solve our cases it's just that our DI can be very blunt and people don't exactly value brutal honesty." Sakura gave him a slight smile. "I'm Naruto by the way" The blond extended his hand to her and Sakura hesitantly shook it. "And this is Sai." The dark haired man nodded at her.

There was a sudden burst of sunlight and Sakura could make out the shape of a door, Naruto gave a slight laugh and dashed towards it.

"You found a window!" Sai rolled his eyes at Naruto's actions and Sakura shifted position as she heard an inaudible reply to Naruto's statement, she wondered who it was, their boss perhaps?

"Hey!" Naruto called back to her. "If you want you can go into our, um…new office." Sakura straightened up and headed over to the door way giving Naruto a soft "thank you".

She looked around the office which was now partially lit by a single window. It was full of papers and files that covered the desks that were in it. She squinted slightly as more sunlight made its way into the office and she saw a dark figure uncovering a second window that had been previously hidden by newspaper.

"How can we help you?" The figure asked gesturing at her to sit down at the chair opposite the desk. "I know these aren't, uh, ideal conditions but we'll help you if we can."

"Thank you," Sakura said softly sitting down once again, although the chair was considerable more comfortable than the box.

The person in the office took the other chair behind the desk and turned to face her, resting their elbows on the wood and interlocking their fingers in front of their face. Sakura looked curiously at the person; there was an uncanny resemblance to Sai in their features but there were still some obvious differences, this person seemed more confident for a start and their dark eyes glittered red in the shadowy room. Sakura took a deep breath.

"I'd like to report a rape," She said quietly.

"Rape." The person repeated, looking at her carefully and Sakura braced herself. Here we go she thought, queue laughter and some sort of snide comment about how she must have deserved it. They raised their eyebrows. "That's a very serious allegation; would you be able to identify your attacker?" Sakura nodded, feeling slightly uneasy that she was being taken seriously after all the ridicule.

"Good." The person strode out of the office, leaving Sakura feeling baffled and shouted, "Sai!"

"What?"

"Get a description from her and draw a likeness so we can get started." Sai entered the office and dragged a chair up so he was sitting next to her, he was carrying a sketchbook and a set of graphite sticks.

"Um," Sakura started, "Does this mean that you lot are going to help me?" Sai gave her a thoughtful look.

"Apparently so, now what can you tell me?" Sakura started to sort through her memories to describe the man who wronged her, slowly giving Sai the information so he could piece together and image of the person.

"Sasuke," Naruto said to his friend and colleague. "Do you believe her?" Sasuke gave him a quizzical look.

"Why would she lie?" Naruto shrugged.

"You've got to be able to justify this case upstairs, you know that." Sasuke frowned slightly at this statement.

"Well we'll just have to find some evidence then,"

"You make it sound so simple," Naruto muttered and Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"There have been increased complaints of rape in this area Naruto; it's a serious crime especially if it's the same face that's doing it." Naruto sighed.

"And then what? You know how hard it is to make these charges stick," Sasuke gave Naruto a considering look.

"It's not like you to be this pessimistic." He said simply as he headed back to the office, all conversation between Sai and Sakura seemed to have ended.

"That's not answering my question!" Naruto shouted and dashed after Sasuke.

"Really?" Sasuke said sarcastically. "What do you think about this Naruto?" Sasuke picked Sai's sketch off the table and Naruto looked at it.

"I hate you," He muttered, Sasuke raised his eyebrows and looked expectant. "Fine, you were right, it's the same person." Naruto said sounding defeated.

"So what happens now?" Sai asked looking up at Sasuke who had narrowed his eyes and was staring at the sketch.

"Now?" Sasuke was jerked out of his reverie "now we're going to need to find out what happened." He looked sharply at Sakura who was still sitting in the chair feeling forgotten. "Can you run us through what happened that night?" She nodded.

"Good." Sasuke muttered distractedly as he began rummaging through the boxes in the room. He produced a tape recorder and set it on the table in front of her.

"Now, who are you anyway?" Sasuke had directed this question more to Naruto than Sakura and there was an awkward pause.

"Uh-" Naruto looked at Sai who shrugged.

"I'm Sakura Haruno," Sakura interjected and they all looked at her, she shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

"Right then Ms Haruno could you tell us when this incident occurred?" Sasuke asked pressing down the record button.

"About a week ago on Friday," Sakura said softly.

"And when did you first go to the police?" This got a sharp look from his colleagues but Sasuke continued to look at Sakura as she formed her answer.

"Two days later I think."

"And why did you approach the police?" Sakura frowned slightly unsure where his questions were going.

"I told my friend what happened and she said that I should at least try to get the guy locked away."

"Okay, we're going to need your friends details later in case we need to contact her." Sakura nodded, "And can you take us through what happened that night, any detail you can tell us will be useful." Sakura hesitated before speaking.

"I was out with my friend..."

"The same friend as before?" Naruto interrupted receiving a glare from Sasuke.

"Yes," Sakura replied, "We were out at a bar the um…wine bar own St. Martin's Street." Sasuke nodded at her and Sakura continued more confidently, at least they were willing to listen to her story. "And Ino, my friend, has always been quite…confident with men and after we had a few drinks she found me and said that we wouldn't be heading home together as she'd, well, found someone, so I decided to walk home by myself."

"Walk?" Sasuke asked and Sakura felt herself getting defensive.

"Yes, it's only about ten minutes away."

"And what time would you say it was?"

"Not that late I don't think; it was dark but maybe only about ten?" Sasuke nodded.

"And then what happened?" He said softly.

"I left the bar and started going home. There were a lot of people outside it, smoking and that, so I didn't think anything of it when someone was behind me when I just left." She paused and the room was completely still. "After a little bit of walking I thought it was a bit strange that they were still behind me, I reached the corner near the main street and that was when they grabbed me and-" She was shaking slightly and Sasuke decided to cut in.

"You don't have to go any further," He said abruptly, and Sakura nodded looking down at her hands. "And this is definitely him right?" Sasuke asked waving Sai's drawing in front of her, Sakura flinched and nodded.

"Jeez Sasuke, have some sensitivity," Naruto muttered and Sasuke just glared at him.

"Right," He said and started pacing the room, "Sai you find the place where it happened, and Naruto I want you to get details on, Ino was it, and Ms Haruno's address, and so on, I'll got check the files." He strode out the room and they heard his footsteps fade down the corridor, Sai gathered his things and followed suit leaving Naruto with Sakura. Naruto gave her a sheepish smile.

"He's always like this, Sasuke I mean, or Detective Inspector Uchiha, whatever, but he will make sure your case is solved."

"Thanks," Sakura said quietly. "Um, when you said it was the same person…" She asked cautiously, Naruto looked at his feet.

"Yeah, they've committed an offence before but the police have never been able to take him to court, every time." He sounded weary.

"The offense is the same?" She asked and Naruto nodded "And how many time has he" Sakura stopped abruptly "…done this." Naruto sighed.

"To many, and they're all pretty recently too," He looked at Sakura's face "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Are you staying at your own home?" Naruto asked, sounding genuinely concerned for her well being, Sakura shook her head.

"Ino said I could stay with her." Naruto nodded.

"Naruto, I asked you to do something." Sasuke said re-entering the room and dumping a stack of papers on his desk. "So do it."

It was silent for a while as everyone went about their respective tasks. Sakura sat quietly answering Naruto's questions to the best of her ability but her eyes kept wandering over to where the DI sat pouring over the files he had fetched, frowning slightly as he scanned the documents. His frown seemed to deepen the more he read and soon all quiet conversation in the small office fell and all their attention was on Sasuke. Sai returned and silently went and took a seat at his desk and turned his attention to Sasuke as well. There was a small;

"Hn." And Sasuke began rummaging through the papers again as if to check for something.

With that simple sound the whole atmosphere in the office changes and became charged with anticipation. Sasuke sat and stared at one piece of paper in his hand for a while before anyone spoke.

"Have you found something Sasuke?" Naruto ventured breaking the silence.

"Maybe," Sasuke said and he abruptly stood up, "We need to go talk to the other victims."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"We'll have to get their permission to publish their cases." Naruto's eyes widened as he realised what Sasuke meant, Sakura however felt confused.

"I suppose, if you think that's necessary Uchiha." Sai said finally and Sasuke nodded, looking intently at the papers again.

Sakura looked at the three men in the room. Sasuke was sitting again with his hands in front of his face, and Sakura guessed that it was a habit of his, but even so he emitted a dangerous aura like a predator coiled ready to strike.

In contrast Naruto was lounging in his chair with his feet on his desk but his well meaning attitude made Sakura trust him. Sai on the other hand sat quietly and seemed to keep to himself most of the time. He seemed more comfortable stating facts than his own opinion and it was these men that Sakura had entrusted her problem. And the strange thing was that she trusted this mismatched group to solve it. She took a deep breath.

"Can I come?" Sasuke looked at her sharply and she felt her resolve wavering under his gaze.

"You." Sasuke said flatly.

"Yes me." Sakura said looking directly back at him.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Sai shake his head slightly but she could feel Naruto's reassuring gaze on her, silently encouraging her, as opposed to Sasuke's dark look as he studied her, considering her proposition.

After a long silence Sasuke gather the papers into two separate piles and stood up again and walked towards the door, he turned and leant against the door frame.

"Right, Sai and Naruto you two go and talk to these people and explain the situation."

"Everything?" Sai inquired and Sasuke nodded and then turned to Sakura who still sat by Naruto.

"And you, you're with me," Sakura glowered slightly.

"I do have a name you know," She muttered to Naruto, who grinned at her.

"Sure, and so does Sasuke but I've yet to hear you use it either." Sakura ignored him and gather her coat, she waited with Sasuke until the other two had left and followed him out of the police station. Despite her insisting that she wanted to come with him Sakura still didn't know what it was they were meant to be doing.

* * *

Sakura hung back slightly as Sasuke rang the doorbell of the first house and they waited a few moments before a slightly harassed looking young woman opened the door.

"Oh," She looked disappointed, "Sorry, you're not who I expected."

"Am I right to assume that you're Rika Imawura?" Sasuke asked and the woman's face became a little guarded.

"Yes." She said shortly and Sasuke took out his police identification.

"I'm DI Uchiha from the Konoha police force and this is Ms Haruno, may we come in?" Rika nodded and directed them into the living room where two children eyed them suspiciously.

"Sorry," Rika apologised, "We're just waiting for my sister to pick them up." They fell into an uncomfortable silence and then one of the children spoke.

"What are you here for?" He asked and Sasuke shocked Sakura by giving the child a warm smile.

"We just need to talk to your mum for a bit."

"Oh," The child fell silent, "You could talk to her now." A panicked look briefly crossed Rika's face but Sasuke was saved from having to reply when the doorbell rang again. Rika answered it and called for her children to great the newcomer. Fragments of conversation drifted into the living room.

"Sorry….late…traffic was terrible."

"You two behave yourselves then."

"…"

"What was that?"

"We will mum."

Sakura looked at Sasuke who seemed impassive as ever, she looked around the room which was full of kid's games and toys and then back to Sasuke again. He hadn't said anything but Sakura got the feeling he knew she was looking at him.

"What exactly are we doing here?" Sakura said finally, "You never said," Sasuke ignored the question and Rika wandered back into the living room.

"What was it you wanted?" She asked.

"You reported an incident with the police a few months ago." Sasuke said and Sakura saw hope form on Rika's face.

"You found him?" Sasuke shook his head and the closed expression came back.

"I'd like to clear something up with you if that's aright," It was more of a statement than a question.

"I already told you lot everything ages ago," Rika retorted, "Haven't you got enough to catch him with yet." Sasuke gave an impatient sigh.

"I'm actually here to tell you information that was previously withheld from you by the police and I would like your assistance with something," Now she grew suspicious.

"What?" Sasuke drew a picture out of the file he was carrying; Sakura recognised it as Sai's drawing.

"Is this the man?" Rika recoiled visibly and nodded, "Then I'm sorry to inform you that you were not his first victim or his last." Sasuke continued flatly and he nodded towards Sakura who grew uneasy, "Ms Haruno is the most recent victim who has come forward against this man and these incidents have been occurring for over a year with little police action and I'm sure all of his victims would like some justice." Rika snorted.

"No one takes crimes against women seriously, what are you suggesting we do anyway stop wearing skirts and 'asking for it'?" Sakura glanced at Sasuke wondering how he'd respond to this but he kept his blank facial expression and just raised his eyebrows.

"I'd actually like your permission to let us give all the details of your attack to the media and let it be published, it would be under a false name, all of it will be," He added with a swift glance at Sakura, "And this way the man will be identified by one of the public and the police will be forced to take action or face public criticism." Sakura was stunned.

"You're going to leak police information to the media," She asked and Sasuke nodded, "No wonder I was told you have unorthodox methods and you do seem to unnecessarily stir things up." Sasuke glared furiously at her.

"I doubt you're aware of the fact that there are some people who have been waiting for over a year for this man to be arrested. He's committed numerous offences and according to the records we have some people have even had counselling to deal with what he's done to them. I'll do what ever it takes to bring the bastard down." He said sharply, Sakura was taken aback by the venom in his words and looked away to hide the unshed tears in her eyes, luckily Rika diverted Sasuke's attention away from Sakura as she laughed slightly.

"I like that attitude. Count me in you can tell them all you want about my case." Sasuke nodded.

"Thanks," He said curtly, "We'll leave you in peace now." He went to the door and let himself out with Sakura following feeling more confused than ever about Sasuke's actions and his attitude.

She stayed silent as she followed Sasuke around to the other houses, gaining all of their consent when they got back to the station Sasuke busied himself with the papers again and completely ignored her presence in their office talking only to Naruto and Sai, consequently it came as a relief when Naruto offered her a lift to Ino's house to take her to her temporary home and away from Sasuke's presence.

Sakura accepted the lift and she left with Naruto filling the silence between them, wondering not for the first time what it was the made Sasuke tick.

"Naruto," She said uncertainly, "You and Sasuke are friends right?" Naruto glanced at her and gave her a warm smile.

"Of course," He replied, "Sasuke's my closest friend, we've known each other for years." Sakura frowned.

"Is that why you're friends, just as you've known each other for a long time," Naruto shook his head.

"Sasuke's a complicated person and I'm not surprised that you don't like him."

"It's not that," Sakura protested.

"Sasuke's not easy to get along with," Naruto paused, "It's difficult to explain, but just remember that Sasuke's extremely good at his job and as you know not everyone takes that kind of crime seriously."

"Rape you mean," Sakura said and Naruto looked uneasy.

"You all go out of your way not to say it." She looked out of the car window, watching the landscape whisk by "I know what happened to me Naruto."

"And Sasuke will find the guy who did it," Naruto said firmly and gave Sakura a wry smile, "He's got a strong sense of justice." Sakura smiled weakly back at Naruto, despite all he had said she was still unsure about Sasuke's character.

Naruto pulled up outside Ino's house and saw a blonde haired woman open the door and come out to meet them, pulling her jacket around her to ward off the cold. "Is that her?" Naruto asked nodding at the new comer.

"Yeah that's Ino," She opened the door and stepped out to greet her friend.

"Sakura, I didn't know you were getting escorted back," Ino peered into the car, "What did she do the deserve this?" Ino asked Naruto who grinned.

"Ino," Sakura protested, "Naruto just offered me a lift home, that's all." She shut the door of the car and waved to Naruto as he drove off.

"Well how was it?" Ino asked wrapping an arm around Sakura and walking with her back to the open door of Ino's house.

It could have been worse." Sakura said with a shrug, "I got completely laughed at and humiliated when I first came to report it but," She gave a small smile, "I found some people willing to listen to me."

"And one of them was that Naruto right?" Sakura nodded.

"Him and two others a Sai and Sasuke Uchiha."

"Only three people?" Sakura nodded.

"But three's better than nothing and Naruto assures me that DI Uchiha is very good at his job." Ino nodded in understanding and she walked with Sakura up to her temporary room, Ino stood awkwardly in the door way watching as Sakura organised her things.

"Are you sure you don't mind me going out tonight?" She asked and Sakura smiled at her.

"Its fine Ino, you already cancelled on Shikamaru last week because of me," Ino looked torn.

"I just feel bad for leaving you alone as I'll be at work tomorrow as well and you came to me for help Sakura." Ino said.

"Its fine," Sakura repeated, "Really Ino."

* * *

**Rapist in Konoha?**

A series of crimes in Konoha have been reported with little serious action has been taken by the police force. There is evidence that over twelve woman have been raped by the same assailant but it appears that the police have done little to apprehend the man despite having sufficient evidence to move against him. On the right is an image of the attacker that all of the women have identified and if anyone knows this man it is advised that they should contact the police. He is considered dangerous and has been at large in Konoha for over a year. We are advising young women to not go out alone at night, to try to avoid isolated areas and to walk home in a group to avoid being targeted.

See page 7 for more details.


	2. Chapter 2

**All-time Lows; I never done bad things**

* * *

**Police Criticised For Not Taking Female Crime Seriously **

The media have brought to light that a series of crimes reported to the police have resulted in little police action. The police have fallen under heavy public criticism and it is expected that they will take action against these allegations. This has also brought to light the need to an inquiry as an anonymous source has said the Police Force remains a male dominated work force and that sexism still exists within it.

The crimes that have gone unsolved over a year have led to a serial rapist in the area who is still at large. There is currently a small team of police officers working on it but our crime specialists say that this not enough. One said that; "crimes like this should have a large response from the police and this lack of response has just made the situation worse."

Another said that this could be the result of biased views spreading amongst the members of the police force and that discrimination has become a part of the institution which immediately disadvantages some groups of people when reporting crime. Write in with your comments.

* * *

Sasuke arrived at the tiny office the next day and was surprised to see Naruto already there sitting with Sakura, despite this his expression didn't flicker as her saw them and he remained impassive.

"Should you be here?" He asked addressing Sakura and ignoring Naruto's welcoming wave. She brushed off his harsh tone of voice with s shrug.

"I'm on leave to work to recover apparently. It's boring at Ino's and at least here I can pretend that I'm actually doing something productive."

"Besides," Naruto chipped in cheerily, "Sakura's the best she brought in some cake as a thanks." Sasuke arched one of his eyebrows and Sakura felt herself blushing under his scrutinising look. Nevertheless she straightened up under his gaze and offered him the cake tin.

"Would you-" He cut across her offer.

"I don't like sweet things," Sakura glared at his retreating back.

"I'll have his," Naruto said gleefully and Sakura gave him another cake. ""It's always like this," Naruto explained around a mouthful of cake, "If he ever got anything for Valentine's Day I usually ate that too, of course he usually did, the lucky bastard." Sakura smiled at him.

"How long have you two known each other then?" Sakura asked as Naruto swallowed his last mouthful of cake and eyeing the rest of the tin hopefully.

"I'm not sure since we were about eight I think." Sakura nodded

Sai entered the room and glanced at Sakura.

"What are you doing back here?" He asked.

"I wanted to see if I could be of any use to you lot, besides I've nothing else to do." Sai nodded. "Do you want a cake?" She offered.

"I'm sorry?"

"I made some cake, do you want a bit?" Sai still looked slightly confused but he took a piece and ate it anyway, giving her a small smile as a thanks. Sakura looked around the room and saw that they had changed it since she had last been there, the boxes of junk had been cleared and there was a lot more space. Sasuke, in his position as their boss, according to Naruto, had a small office space to himself, along all the files they had needed which they had managed fit in there as well.

Sasuke watched Sakura talking with Naruto and Sai and shook his head slightly. Strange girl, what made her want to come back here? Sasuke watched her laugh with Naruto for a while wondering how she could remain so cheerful after such a terrible thing had happened to her. Well, if she wanted to be useful.

"Okay then, now Sai's here we might as well start," Sasuke said walking into the main room. "Sai, I want you to see if there's any similarities in the victims he chooses." Sai nodded briefly. "Naruto," Sasuke paused slightly, taken aback at the eager look on his friend's face, "I need you to see if we've had any response from people from what was shown in the media."

"Sure," Naruto replied and Sasuke turned to look at Sakura.

"And you," He paused slightly, thinking, "You said you wanted to be useful, here." He handed her some money, "Find a news agent and get as many different papers as you can with this, we'll need to see how much has been reported."

Sakura nodded looking at the crisp note he had pressed into her hand, her skin tingling slightly from where his fingers had brushed against her palm. Sakura noticed that Sasuke was still watching her carefully as Naruto and Sai busied themselves with their tasks and she offered him a small smile, which he didn't return, and pulled her coat on, shoving the money in her pocket.

Sasuke watched Sakura leave their small office, her bright hair colour making her stand out against the dull walls. She was a strangely cheerful girl who had offered none of the hysterics and tears that most of the other victims had presented them with. Of course, Sasuke knew that it didn't mean she was troubled by the events that had taken place, she was just making a lot of effort to hide it.

Sasuke absentmindedly rubbed his hand, the one he had given Sakura the money with, and frowned. This girl was annoying, why didn't she just stay at home and wait like everyone else. Sasuke had never had very good people skills and with the cases he usually got it didn't usually involve talking to people, and now he had someone coming to their office. Sasuke sighed, well, he couldn't really blame her for trying to be keep herself busy, it was probably better than dwelling on what had happened.

He continued watching the empty door way for a while before walking off to the small room where they kept the files, his office apparently. Sasuke sat down and pulled the files towards him, now it was time to see if his suspicions were correct.

"I'm back," Sakura said, holding a bundle of papers under her arm, she turned and saw Naruto looking dejected. "What is it?"

"No ones responded to the articles yet, I asked for them to direct all calls down here." Naruto said tapping the phone. "But there's nothing."

"I see," Sakura felt disappointed, after all Naruto's assurances that Sasuke would lock away the man who raped her she had almost expected magical results from their actions yesterday. "Well then why don't you help me while you wait for a phone call," She said smiling. "I got one of every newspaper and now we can look through them to see what's been said."

"Okay, sounds fun," Naruto said eagerly, and Sakura smiled at him.

"You must really love your job, huh?" She said and Naruto shook his head slightly.

"It's not really that, I just like being useful to people," He took one of the papers off the piles and began flicking through it.

"Well that one was easy," Sakura said circling the article she had found, "'Is the police force sexist?' well they're trying to sound sensational there." Naruto grinned.

"How about 'Police blunder over serial rapist,'" Sakura frowned.

"What blunder?"

"The one they made up?" Naruto suggested and Sakura laughed.

Her gaze fell on the article she had found in the paper, and a feeling of unease ran through her as she looked at the copy of Sai's sketch that had been reproduced. Sai's work was way to lifelike for her and it was very unsettling as if he had captured the darker side of the man that had caused him to commit these crimes. Sakura frowned slightly as she looked at the picture closer, it was strange but she thought she had seen him before somewhere.

"Sakura," Naruto said loudly, and she jerked out of her reverie, and she had the feeling that he had been calling her name for a while. "Are you alright?" Sakura smiled at him.

"Yes, I am, sorry Naruto I was just thinking." Naruto was still watching her looking concerned. "Lets finish going through these shall we?" She said brightly, folding the page back in the previous paper so she could find it and reaching for a second.

Sasuke sat surrounded by papers, his head in his hands with his fingers gripping his hair. This was getting stupid. How many files did they have on this man any way, you would have thought there was enough the arrest the bastard.

Sasuke glared at the files for a while, listening to the sounds of Naruto talking and Sakura's soft laughter, nice to know someone was having fun.

He suddenly straightened in his seat, staring at the papers, his eyes narrowed again.

Sakura and Naruto had almost finished going through the newspapers and found that the story had some mention in all of the papers, some stating bare fact and asking for the public to come forward with information and some taking a more sensationalistic approach; accusing the police of incompetence and spinning the facts so wildly that they barely resembled the truth.

Sasuke came through the door way looking thoughtful and he was staring at a handwritten jumble of letters and numbers, he sat on the edge of Naruto's desk and the blond man looked up.

"Naruto, do you have last years calendar?" Sakura frowned and chanced a quick look at Sai who shrugged. Naruto, however, looked thoughtful and began rummaging through the draws on his desk, after a few moments he produced the calendar triumphantly. Sasuke looked at it thoughtfully.

"You really never throw things away do you Naruto," He said and Naruto shrugged.

"Most things come in use after a while, what's it for anyway?"

"I want to check something. If I get anywhere I'll tell you." Naruto nodded and Sakura found it amazing how much trust he seemed to have in the dark haired man, and from his conversation with Sakura she knew that he had confidence in Sasuke's abilities.

Sakura sighed; she wished she could share Naruto's strong belief in Sasuke. A few moments later Sasuke came back into the main room holding another calendar that Sakura guessed he had gotten from the other room.

"Okay," He muttered and spread the two calendars out onto the table. "Look at the dates that each incident took place, the first, the twenty-second, the third" They watched his finger travel down the calendar to point out each date as he listed them.

"That can't be a coincidence," Sai stated and Naruto nodded.

"So he's committing the same crime on the same day at three week intervals then" He said thoughtfully, "So that means that not everyone's come forward as we don't have that many victims, right?" Sasuke nodded.

"But what kind of person would do that?" Sakura asked and Sasuke looked at her.

"This means that whoever's done it didn't do it as a spur of the moment thing," He said flatly, "They've thought it out quite a lot."

"There's even a similarity in the victims," Sai put in. "They're all around the same age range and are, well, attractive, similar height and build although he doesn't seem that picky about hair and eye colour of anything like that." Sasuke continued looking at Sakura for a while as if considering something.

"What else is there?" He said almost to himself. "He attacks them all in a similar way," Sai nodded.

"He always waits until their away from the place he followed them from and near a main road." Sai said in agreement.

"So that means he must want them to feel safe as it's all brightly light and there are more people around before he attacks them." Naruto finished and Sasuke nodded he seemed lost in thought. Sakura looked down at the papers feeling lost in the conversation.

"Uchiha." A new voice joined then and Sakura turned to see the police woman who had directed her here, Tsunade, "You're wanted upstairs," Sasuke nodded and the woman's gaze fell on Sakura, "Oh, you made it here? I told you they'd help you out." Sakura nodded, blushing slightly now all three males had their attention on her.

"Well I better go," Sasuke muttered and headed out the office.

"Here we go," Sai muttered.

"What's happening?" Sakura asked.

"Sasuke's in trouble for leaking polices files to the media," Naruto said with a small smile Sakura stared at him.

"Will he be fired?"

"No, he's too smart to leave evidence that it was him," Sai answered, "But they'll know it was Uchiha who did it."

They sat in silence for a while and Sakura twisted her hands together in her lap, feeling strangely anxious for the quiet Inspector who was working so hard to solve her case. The soft ticking of the clock was they only sound in the room until they heard loud footsteps as Sasuke came back down.

Naruto looked up as his friend entered and saw the furious look in Sasuke's face. Sasuke stormed though the room into his office and there was a slight pause and then Sakura jumped as she heard a loud crash and Sasuke came back looking slightly more composed. Naruto cleared his throat.

"So anyway, it looks like there wasn't too much reported in the papers today but it'll probably be picked up on more later depending on how the police react to it."

"And we don't know how it was reported in the news on the radio or television anyway." Sai added and Sakura realised that they were trying to pretend that Sasuke didn't just destroy most of his office.

"Lots of the papers have exaggerated the story," She added hastily, "they've made it sound like the police force is flawed, so I'm guessing that there'll be a big reaction to that." Sasuke nodded and glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Well I doubt that we'll get much else done," He said, "Naruto, I'm guessing that no one's rung or anything about this." He shook his head and Sasuke continued, "They'll probably be more of a response tomorrow as more people will be aware of it, you might as well go home now."

As Sakura left with Naruto and Sai she glanced back and saw Sasuke sitting in the same place his gaze fixed on the wall.

"Why's he staying?" She asked softly and Naruto grinned.

"To clear up the mess he made. Sasuke's a neat freak." He almost sang the last part.

"I wonder what got him so mad though," Sai added and Naruto frowned.

"Yeah, you see Sasuke's usually quite," He shrugged, "impassive I guess, but once something sparks his temper he can get really furious." Naruto added for Sakura's benefit. Sakura nodded and once again accepted Naruto's offer for a lift home.

"I told you though didn't I?" Naruto asked.

"Told me what?"

"That Sasuke was good at what he does."

"Oh yes, it makes me uneasy knowing more about this though." She said "The man who raped me, I mean, why are they putting so much thought into doing it?" Naruto shrugged.

"But that's what we're going to find out, and he can tell everyone about his reasons once he's behind bars."

* * *

Sakura found herself smiling the next day. Ino had already left for work with a promise of spending the evening with Sakura tonight and she had a few moments to herself before she chanced going to the police station again. Sakura heard a car pull up outside the house and she saw Naruto inside, giving her a wave. Sakura walked down to the car and he wound down the window.

"Are you coming in to day?" She nodded and Naruto grinned at her, "great, get in, I'll give you a lift." Sakura grinned back at him and dashed back to gather her belongings, locking up the house.

"You don't have to do this Naruto," She said.

"But I want to, besides its more fun at work with you there," He said.

"Well at least some one appreciates me," Sakura muttered and Naruto smiled.

"Just because he doesn't say it doesn't mean Sasuke doesn't appreciate you."

"Why do you keep bringing him into the conversation?" Sakura asked angrily and Naruto laughed.

"But it was Sasuke you were talking about right?" Sakura sighed.

"Not necessarily I meant more generally," She insisted but when Naruto laughed again she knew it was futile to protest further. She didn't even know herself why she spent so much time thinking about the young DI. They fell silent for a while before Sakura broke it.

"I brought more cake for you." She said as they walked down the corridors to the office and Naruto grinned.

Laid out on Naruto's desk was another lot of money and Sakura picked it up, "I guess I'm getting the newspapers again" She muttered as Naruto checked to see if any messages were left about the case.

Sakura paused before she left. Naruto was busy looking through his desk for something and Sai had yet to arrive. She wandered over to Sasuke small office area and peered round the door way and Sasuke looked up at her; he seemed annoyed at being disturbed.

"What?" He asked and she came in the room with a box.

"Here just for you, as you don't like sweet things," She paused, "I'll go and get the papers now." She muttered and he eyed her suspiciously for a while as she wandered back to Naruto and Sai, who had just arrived, but not before she heard a muttered, "thanks," from Sasuke.

Sakura walked slowly back towards the police station, she held a bundle of newspapers in her arms and had noticed that some had even featured the story on the front page. She could still see Sai's drawing and it bothered her that the man's face was everywhere but she knew it was necessary. Sakura frowned, she was sure she'd seen him before.

"Naruto," Sakura said softly after returning to the station. "What should I do, I have a horrible feeling I've seen that man before." She said nodding at Sai's picture, Naruto looked thoughtful.

"Can you remember where?" Sakura shrugged.

"I think it was at work but I'm not too sure."

"Tell Sasuke about it," Naruto said, "It might be important." He saw her hesitancy at approaching Sasuke and smiled slightly, "he won't bite, you know, well it's highly unlikely that he will anyway." Sakura nodded and headed back to the small room where Sasuke was. He looked up when he heard her footsteps.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Um, Naruto said that I should probably tell you this?" Sasuke leant back in his chair and folded his arms.

"Go on."

"That man, I can't help thinking I've seen him before." Sasuke motioned for her to sit down "I'm not certain about this but I think it was at work." Sasuke nodded and Sakura shifted uneasily in her seat, "It's been bothering me that's all."

"Are you sure?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yes," Sakura said indignantly and Sasuke almost smiled.

"I just want you to be certain," Sakura frowned.

"I think," She began, "Yes, I think it was about a week before it happened, I'm sure he was at my work as Temari commented on it," Sakura frowned. "Why was he there?" She said almost to herself and Sasuke stayed silent, watching her. "It was some technical stuff I think. It wasn't the usual guy who comes in, that's why we noticed him."

"Was there anything unusual about the way he acted." Sasuke asked and Sakura shook her head.

"Not that I noticed. Sorry." Sasuke frowned slightly.

"Okay then." He walked out towards Sai and Naruto and Sakura heard them having a conversation, she heard her name come up a few times and then Sasuke returned.

"Will you come to your work with me?" He asked, "I need to know what happened there." Sakura nodded.

"What about Naruto and Sai?" She asked, as she could hear them getting ready to leave.

"They're going round the houses to see if anyone else saw him before they were, well-"

"Taken advantage of." Sakura supplied and Sasuke nodded. Sakura stood up, "Well then, let's get going."

Sakura found herself following Sasuke outside and he took her to his car, gesturing for her to get in. Sakura felt uneasy sitting in such a small area with Sasuke. He was a lot less easy going than Naruto and she found him hard to read.

Sasuke pulled up outside Sakura's office and glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. There was a slight pause as Sasuke hesitated looking like he was about to say something but he shook his head.

"Let's go." Sakura followed him into the office feeling strangely incompetent, surely it should be the other way round, she was the one who knew where she was going in this place. There were hurried whispers all over the office as it was passed on that Sakura had returned with a police officer, and an attractive one at that, and Sakura felt herself slowly turning red with embarrassment. Sasuke however was able to maintain his calm expression and Sakura felt annoyed that he was able to remain so detached from it all.

Sakura tugged Sasuke's arm and he turned slightly to face her.

"Come with me," She said and led him towards her work space. "I can remember seeing him go past here." She said pointing out towards the corridor they could see from the open door, Sasuke nodded.

"And your friend was with you at the time?"

"Yeah, we were talking."

"Does your boss know who he was or why he was there?" Sasuke asked.

"Maybe if not then Shizune will know, she always knows what happens in here." Sasuke nodded again and they were interrupted by another person.

"Sakura, you have come back for a bit." The person said. Sasuke watched as Sakura's expression brightened.

"Temari, it's good to see you, um, do you remember that man who was in here two weeks ago." Temari frowned.

"I'm guessing this is important by the way you're looking at me," Sakura nodded. "Let's see, was he the guy who went down to IT?" Sakura nodded again.

"I think so." She said quietly.

"I remember him as he really ruffled some feathers; apparently he made it seem like no one down there knew what they were doing."

"Do you know who he was?" Sasuke asked and Temari shook her head.

"I was never introduced to him, but ask Shizune, she'll know."

"Where can we find her?" Sasuke demanded.

"She'll be in her office. Sakura knows where it is. I'm sorry but I should get back to work." Sasuke nodded and Temari left, he looked at Sakura expectantly. Sakura led him to Shizune's office having the strange sensation of actually having Sasuke follow behind her for a change. She quite liked it.

Sasuke followed her silently watching her walk ahead, greeting the people they passed. She seemed to have gotten over her previous embarrassment and was enjoying the company of her co-workers.

At least, he thought, she was able to put it all behind her instead of dwelling on what he had done to her. Sasuke clenched his fist, someone like that deserved to be completely destroyed but sadly all he could do was arrest him and hope that the judge and jury locked him up.

"Here we are," Sakura said brightly, knocking on the door.

"Come in," Sakura pushed the door open and checked to see if Sasuke was following her, the dark haired woman at the desk looked up. "Sakura, how can I help you?"

"Can you tell us who the IT man who came in about two weeks ago was?" Sakura asked and Shizune frowned.

"I'll have a look." She began checking some records on her computer "Here we are, 'we are sorry to inform you that your usual technician is unavailable so' hang on there's a name, is that all you need." Shizune looked up at Sakura, who looked at Sasuke, he nodded. "It was Ukon Sakuya."

"Thanks," Sasuke said and then he turned to Sakura "Let's go."

Sasuke walked back into the office at the police station with Sakura to find Naruto and Sai already there waiting for them. Sakura noticed that they both had a troubled expression but Naruto looked up at them and smiled.

"Anything?" Sasuke asked and Sai nodded.

"Every single one of his victims could vaguely remember seeing him before after a bit of prompting."

"So all of his victims had seen him before the attack?" Sasuke asked.

"It's as if he's been finding his victims through work," Sai said, "They all said he was there for some technical support or something similar."

"And then it looks like he's found out who they were and followed them," Naruto added.

"And if they're remembering correctly then they all saw him about a week before he raped them." Sai said and Naruto continued.

"So he's been carefully selecting his victims, but out cant be a coincidence that all the people he selected happened to go out on the same day to fit into his system."

"So he must have spent time picking out different people."

"And we had a few phone calls from other people who remembered seeing him before while they were working." Naruto nodded and he and Sai looked like they had finished their revelation.

"Sick bastard," Sasuke muttered under his breath but Sakura heard and gave him a slight smile.

"Meaning that some people were lucky enough to stay at home so he had to find another person?" Sakura asked and Naruto nodded. "I can't get my head round all this," Sakura muttered.

"I think basically he's got it set up so that whatever happens he will commit rape on that day every three weeks," Sasuke said and Sai nodded. "It's not something done on the spur on the moment." He said softly, "It's planned, and that's what makes it even more worrying." Sakura shifted uneasily.

"So going by that, if it really is a compulsive act then this week he's deciding on a fresh lot of potential victims." She said and they all looked at her.

"So we only have a week to finish this," Naruto said. "Otherwise it'll happen again."

* * *

**Police response to rapist incident.**

Yesterday the police made an announcement in an attempt to defend themselves from the sudden onslaught of public criticism.

They claimed that they had dome all they could in response to the incident that had taken place and that only recently had they become aware that there was a connection between the cases.

Critics argue that it should not have taken that long for the police to realise that the same man was committing numerous offenses and hope that, in the future, action will be taken more swiftly.

A police sergeant who prefers to remain unnamed said that they were doing all they could on the cases but the Konoha police force has not enough members to run a full scale investigation.


	3. Chapter 3

**All-time Lows; I never did anything out of the blue**

* * *

"Sakura, you're back late," Ino said as her friend walked through the door.

"Yeah, sorry Ino I got a bit caught up in everything?" Sakura apologised and Ino looked at her carefully.

"Any progress?" She asked.

"Yes, lots," Sakura said, "But we only have a week to catch him in, we've got a name now though," Ino nodded.

"That's alright then, are you going back to work next week?" Sakura shock her head.

"I want to see how this ends," She said, "I'm hoping they won't mind"

"They?" Ino smiled. "When you say they are you talking about the DI you keep mentioning?" Sakura made and exasperated sound.

"Why do people keep thinking I'm talking about him," Ino took a close look at her friends face and saw a slight tint of pink in her cheeks, she grinned wickedly.

"Tall, dark, and handsome is he?" The colour on Sakura's face got darker.

"Yes, and also an egotistical bastard," She replied without thinking, and then raised her hand to her mouth when she realised what she had just admitted. If possible, Ino's smile widened.

"I knew it, so what does he look like?" Sakura turned away.

"You said it yourself; he's tall, with dark hair and eyes."

"I also said handsome, did you forget that bit?" Ino asked innocently, watching Sakura turn steadily redder.

"Do you want to go and meet Hinata?" Sakura asked and Ino looked at her cautiously.

"Are you sure?" Sakura laughed slightly.

"I'm not going to become a hermit for the rest of my life because of him. I want to get over this Ino and besides if I never went out in the evening again it would mean that he's won." Ino nodded and smiled at her friend.

"Alright," She said finally. "Do you want me to call her?" Sakura nodded and Ino left the room to phone Hinata.

Sakura stretched and tilted her head to one side listening to Ino talking on the phone. She felt a bit wary of going out again but she was determined not to let Ukon ruin her life. Sasuke had mentioned that some people had resorted to counselling to get over it but Sakura didn't want to do that. She didn't want to seem weak even though she knew that her friends would support her whatever she did.

"Right, it's all settled," Ino said returning to the living room. "Do you want to walk or get the car, its not far but-" Ino shrugged and Sakura realised what she was implying, last time she had walked home she had encountered Ukon. Sakura hesitated.

"Drive." She said finally, she didn't think she was that comfortable yet to walk in the dark, even with a friend. Ino nodded.

"Well then, gather your things and lets go." Sakura nodded and she and Ino headed for the front door.

"It'll be nice to see Hinata again, we haven't met up for ages," Sakura said.

"Yeah, Hinata's been worried about you. She said she was glad that you were coming out to meet up with us." Sakura shrugged and was quiet while Ino drove to the bar. She wondered how long it would take for her friends to stop being so edgy around her, she was glad they were concerned and were supporting her but their constant worry was getting tiresome.

"Here we are," Iino said parking the car. "Lets go Hinata'll be waiting for us already." Sakura nodded and they dashed into the warmth of the bar. They saw the quite girl sitting on her own holding a drink; she immediately smiled when she saw them.

Ino offered to get some drinks and Sakura sat with Hinata catching up, when Ino returned they all fell into conversation but, although it was comfortable, Sakura noticed that neither Ino nor Hinata came even close to saying anything about what had happened to her, or anything about men. Which seemed like a great restraint on Ino's behalf. It seemed that rape was a taboo subject with everyone.

"Hey." A quiet voice interrupted them and Sakura turned away from her friends to see Naruto behind her,"How are you doing?"

"Better thanks." Naruto nodded.

"Can I join you for a moment?" Sakura nodded and Naruto sat down with them both Ino and Hinata eyed him suspiciously, there was an awkward silence.

"When are you actually going to arrest this guy then?" Ino asked once she had recognised Naruto as one of the people who were investigating Sakura's case.

"Not yet, but that's what I wanted to talk to you about," He saw Sakura's disappointed look. "No, its not bad," He assured her, "Sasuke will definitely make sure he's locked away. It's just that as he's quite experienced at this it may take a while. I'm just warning you, of course we have a time limit now." He added as an after thought.

"Why are you so determined to make him seem like my saviour he's so-"

"Abrupt?"

"Rude," Naruto gave a slight smile.

"But Sasuke's committed to his job and hates it when a criminal gets left off," Naruto paused, "A long time ago Sasuke's parents were murdered and the killer got let off."

"That's terrible," Sakura said and Naruto nodded.

"What made it worse is that it was his own brother that did it. As Sasuke only discovered the bodies with Itachi there and didn't see the actual murders they said there wasn't enough substantial evidence and Itachi went free." Naruto gave Sakura a brief smile. "That's why he'll make sure that this guy wont get let off for what he's done to you.

"Thank you," Sakura said softly, "I understand I won't get justice instantly but I'm glad you three have listened to me and are at least trying to help." They fell silent for a while.

"So why did you enter the police Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Me? I just wanted people to recognise me as a good person and to, well; I wanted people to know that I existed."

"So you entered the police?" Sakura looked confused.

"Yeah, it's amazing when you finally bring justice to people and I just, after being ignored for most of my life I can at least feel appreciated," He gave her a sheepish smile. "It's quite a selfish reason really," Sakura shook her head.

"It's fine," She said. "At least you're doing some good in the world whatever your reasons." They sat in silence for a while and Sakura shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "I haven't introduced you," She said finally breaking the silence, "You already know Ino but this is Hinata." Sakura said gesturing to the dark haired girl, "Hinata, this is Naruto."

"Nice to meet you," Hinata said quietly and Naruto nodded.

"Likewise."

"I'm just going to go out for a bit." Sakura muttered standing up, they all stared at her looking concerned.

"Sakura," Ino started but she was cut off.

"Nothings going to happen," Sakura said, "It's not like its going to happen again, anyway, it's hot in here I'm only going out for some air," Hinata looked down at her hands.

"But Sakura-" She said and Sakura shook her head.

"I'm only going outside, I'll be fine." Naruto bit his bottom lip.

"If you're sure," He said, "But if anything happens just shout."

"And we'll send him out running," Ino finished, Naruto stared at her.

"Just me?" Ino nodded.

"What can I do to help, besides you're a big strong man aren't you? You'll be fine." Hinata smiled.

"Come back soon or we'll start to worry," She said softly and Sakura frowned letting her irritation show for once.

"You don't have to treat me as if I'm made of glass," She said, "It's fine." Sakura picked up her coat and headed outside, she walked past the cluster of people smoking and took a deep breathe enjoying the cool air after the stuffy bar.

She heard faint laughter as the door swung open again. Sakura sighed, immediately regretting her outburst, she wondered if things could go back to normal once Ukon was caught or if her friends would continue to act as if they were walking on eggshells around her.

Sakura stiffened as she saw a large shadow come up behind her. Despite all she had said to her friends she couldn't help feeling nervous, the person behind her shifted closer and she could smell alcohol on their breath.

Her blood ran cold at the sound of a man's heavy breathing behind her, the cruel irony of her words came back to haunt her. Sakura closed her eyes to brace herself for what was to come, her mind already throwing up the memories she'd tried so hard to suppress.

A hand grabbed her shoulder but was quickly removed and she heard a grunt. She half turned to see the man on the floor behind her and a shadowy figure standing over him. They crouched down next to the prone figure for a moment before straightening again.

Sakura backed away and clenched her hands into fists to try and control the shaking. Her mind was still bringing up the painful memories of Ukon and there was a strange buzzing in her ears. Her breathing became sharper and Sakura shuddered as her back touched as wall. She became vaguely aware of a voice trying to talk to her.

"Hey, Haruno are you okay?" The figure walked towards her and in the dim lighting she could make out their features, her knees almost gave way beneath her, at least she was safe. It was Sasuke.

Her vision blurred as tears filled her eyes. She flinched as Sasuke laid a hand on her shoulder, and the tears began to fall uncontrollably.

She hated it, she'd always been seen as the weaker one of her friends. The more emotional one. The one who couldn't let go of old feelings and now she found herself crying in the street in front of a man she barely knew, or liked. She felt Sasuke's hand move slightly from her shoulder and he hesitantly drew her closer to him.

It was a strange sensation being embraced by Sasuke, he had always seemed reserved or even arrogant but he stood in the street holding Sakura close as she cried into his shirt, giving her an oddly comforting feeling.

Absentmindedly, Sasuke moved his hand in circles on her back soothing Sakura's frayed nerves. Sakura bunched her hands up in the back of Sasuke's shirt and cried. It was amazing how easy it was. He offered her no words of comfort or any assurances that it would be alright but to Sakura it made things easier, he hadn't made a big deal out of her crying and she felt as if she wasn't pathetic to do so.

"Am I right in saying that you didn't cry before?" Sasuke asked eventually, breaking the silence between them and Sakura paused for a moment before nodding into his shirt. She took a deep breath trying to compose herself and Sasuke gently pulled away from her.

"It's alright to cry you know." He said and Sakura felt a few more tears spill out of her eyes as she held his gaze. "Come on, I'll take you home." Sasuke said taking her hand and leading her to his car as she stumbled along unable to see, with her tears obscuring her vision. Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself as Sasuke guided her along holding her elbow.

"Is it alright to leave him there? Won't he run away?" Sakura asked.

"Not when I've hand-cuffed him to a metal bar." Sasuke said dryly and Sakura gave a small laugh.

* * *

Sakura groaned as she heard her phone ringing that morning, she sat upwards and with her duvet still gathered round herself she stumbled over to the phone.

"Hello, this is Sakura Haruno speaking."

"Haruno, how are you?" Sakura pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it in disbelief.

"Fine?" She said, he mind was racing how the hell did Sasuke Uchiha get her phone number "Um.." She said.

"Sorry, you gave your phone number to Naruto and it's in our police records. I wanted to see if you were alright." Sakura was slightly shocked as he almost sounded concerned. After last night she was almost ready to admit that he was human after all.

"I'm fine thanks, really." There was a slight pause as Sakura tried not to yawn down the phone.

"I didn't wake you up did I?" Sasuke asked.

"No, I was getting up anyway." Sakura lied, she was still confused as to where this kinder version of Sasuke had come from. Unless he thought that her being attacked again was going to make her unstable and he was trying to be sensitive around her. There was a sudden thump down the end of the phone and then Naruto's voice came down the line.

"Sakura, are you okay? Sasuke came back and told us what happened? You're not hurt are you?" Sakura smiled.

"Naruto don't worry everything's fine, I'm not hurt, no, um, he saved me before anything could really happen." She heard Naruto chuckling down the phone.

"How come you two find it virtually impossible to call each other by name?" There was a sudden gasp and then "Could it be that-"

"Alright Naruto that's enough." Sakura heard Sasuke say and she sat with the phone trying to figure out what was going on at the other end as she heard Naruto shout something like "why should you keep all the pretty girls to yourself." and then the sound of someone being hit, there were a few more crashes until she heard Sasuke speak again.

"We're going to press charges for assault against the guy but you need to come in and identify him," He said shortly, "It would be useful if you came in today."

Then all she could hear was the dialling tone as he put the phone down on her. Sakura pulled a face, whatever happened to the concerned Sasuke she had been talking to before. She sighed and stretched before beginning her morning routine and preparing to go down to the police station.

It was almost sad really, once Ukon was caught she wouldn't be able to see Naruto, Sai or even Sasuke again and she couldn't pretend that she wouldn't miss their company. Especially Naruto's cheerful optimism.

Sakura waked down the stairs in the police office to find Naruto and Sai looking bored. They looked up expectantly when they heard her footsteps, and when they saw her Naruto's face fell.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"Sasuke disappeared half an hour ago. He said he went to check something and usually he'd be back by now."

"Maybe he got caught up with something else," Sakura suggested but Sai shook his head.

"I doubt it, he's very single minded," Naruto sighed and straightened up.

"Well then Sakura, if you're ready then can you identify the guy from last night." Sakura nodded and Naruto led her upstairs to the line of suspects, despite it being dark that night it was easy for her to identify her attacker. It was the one who was standing awkwardly after Sasuke had hit them in the stomach apparently he had left a mark.

She followed Naruto back downstairs as the he regained the spring in his step and began enthusiastically taking about Sasuke, hoping that his friend had returned in the few minutes that they had been gone.

When he reached the room, however, Naruto slumped; it looked like Sasuke still wasn't back then. Sakura walked round Naruto's dejected form and looked at the empty office.

"Well why don't I go and get some newspapers and we can start going through them." Naruto looked at her.

"But-" He protested.

"We might as well," Sakura interrupted him with a shrug. "It'll pass the time and besides then when Sasuke comes back it wont like we've been sitting here doing nothing." Sai nodded.

"In that case Naruto can go with you, it's a more widely known story now so all of the papers will probably have something in it, and he can help you carry it, besides it'll stop him moping in here." Sakura nodded, "And I'll see if anyone's reported seeing Sakuya in the past week."

Sakura pulled Naruto's arm and practically had to drag him out of the office and out onto the street.

"But Sasuke might come back soon," Naruto protested, "We need to-"

"To do something productive," Sakura said firmly, "Naruto, I'm not even going to pretend to understand your relationship with him, but you need something to distract you." For once Naruto fell silent and he walked along side her.

"Sasuke was my first friend," Naruto said finally, "despite everything we've been through he still stuck with me. I want to be able to repay him for that if I can." Sakura nodded.

Sai put the phone down with a sigh he thoughtfully tapped the phone thinking. There had been many reports of people claiming to see Sakuya but most of them had been dismissed as being hysterical, but still he had made a note of them all just in case. Sai looked at the list of names and numbers, this was getting complicated. He wondered how they were going to narrow this list down in order to actually catch him.

Sai looked up as he heard two sets of foot steps as Sakura and Naruto returned, as soon as he stepped into the room Naruto looked around for Sasuke, he looked dejected as he walked over to his desk to dump the papers. Sakura smiled at Sai as she joined them.

"Do you want to go through the papers with us?" She asked and Sai shrugged.

"Sure, I don't have anything else to do right now."

Minutes turned into hours and they all sat around Naruto's desk the pile of papers open at the pages they wanted. Sakura was glaring at Naruto who had been tapping a pen against the desk for the past half hour.

"Naruto, if you don't stop that I will hurt you." She said through gritted teeth and Naruto jerked out of his reverie.

"Sorry I didn't realise I was doing it." They fell silent again, each so lost in their own thoughts so they didn't hear the footsteps coming up behind them.

"I'm surprised you're all still here." A voice cut in behind them and they turned to see Sasuke holding a pile of papers, Sakura glanced at Naruto and saw his face light up at the sight of his old friend.

"Any progress?" Naruto asked and Sasuke smiled

"I found him."

"What?"

"I know what he's up to," Sasuke sighed seeing that Naruto still looked confused. "Put simply Naruto, he's a sadistic calculating bastard, and," Sasuke slammed the papers on the table Naruto was leaning on causing him to jump ack, "I know where we're going to find him."

"How did you manage that?" Sasuke gave him a manic smile.

"If you look at where he attacked his victims they're all evenly spread out in this area and this," Sasuke jabbed his finger on the map he had put on the table "Is the only place he hasn't been, and coincidently there's only two bars in that area so it shouldn't take to long to check." There was a sudden charge ion the air, and Sakura knew that they all felt the excitement and anticipation of what was to come.

"So what happens now?" Sakura asked and Sasuke looked thoughtful.

"I've got a list of people who say that they've seen Sakuya," Sai said, "We can see if there's anyone in that area." Sasuke nodded and then hesitated.

"How big is this list exactly?" Sai got up and fetched it showing Sasuke the several pages of names that were scribbled on it. Naruto sighed.

"This is going to take ages," Sasuke shook his head slightly.

"We'll split it up," He said handing out the papers "Haruno there's a spare phone in my office come on," Sakura pulled a face at Sasuke's retreating back and Naruto smiled and whispered to her.

"You can't pretend you weren't glad to see him," Sakura blushed slightly and stuck her tongue out at Naruto. "I'll wait until he learns my first name before I say anything positive about him." She whispered back.

Sasuke pointed at the phone when she entered and turned away to sort out some of the papers he had come in with. Sakura stared at the phone feeling inept she didn't know what she was supposed to be ringing these people for.

"Um," She said, and cleared her throat to get rid of the husky sound to her voice. "What am I supposed to be saying?" Sasuke looked up at her sharply.

"Make sure it was definitely him they saw and that its not some hysterical hallucination they've conjured up," He noticed Sakura's frown, "It happens, and then find out where they live or which pubs or bars they frequent." Sakura nodded and sat down next to the phone, she looked at the first name on the list and dialled the number next to it, out of the corner of her eye she could see Sasuke doing the same and she could hear both Naruto and Sai on the phone in the other room. There was a click as some one picked up the phone.

"Hello, could I speak to Umeko Mamekichi please?" Sakura said adopting the formal tone she used on the telephone.

"This is Umeko," The person replied and Sakura hesitated slightly.

"I'm Sakura Haruno and I'm calling from Konoha police station, I just want to ask you a few questions."

Sakura stretched leaning back in her chair glad to finally get through all of her list. She could hear Naruto still talking, apparently trying to offer advice and reassurance to the person he was talking to, Sai was silent and she could see Sasuke sitting at his desk with his hands interlocked in front of him. He had glanced at Sakura when she moved and motioned for her to come over to his desk. Sakura gathered her list and sat in front of his, she gave him a quizzical look.

"How many people do you have left?" He asked

"Well about ten people are positive they saw him but when I explained everything they said that they weren't leaving their houses alone until he was caught." Sasuke nodded.

"At least that's sensible, so no one you called will be out at the right time in the right place?" Sakura shook her head.

"Me neither." He muttered and they both glanced out the door towards Naruto and Sai.

"Will he really try it again after all this attention on him," Sasuke looked at her.

"Probably, if he's planned this much I'm guessing he's confident enough to do it despite all the police and media attention." Sakura clenched her fist.

"You will catch him wont you?" She asked, letting Sasuke see her worries, Sasuke gave her a half smile and placed his hand on top of hers.

"We will," He said firmly. They heard Naruto saying his goodbyes and Sasuke took his hand of Sakura's and walked into the next room.

"Anything?" She heard him asker and Sai shook his head, they all looked expectantly at Naruto.

"Everyone was going to stay in but there is one person who fits and said that as long as we're willing to look out for her she'd go out." Sasuke nodded.

"Who?" He asked and Naruto looked uneasily at Sakura, she stared at him.

"Its some one I know isn't it?" She asked and Naruto nodded. "Who?" She said.

"Ino Yamanaka." Sakura put her out on the wall to steady herself.

"Ino?" She repeated, "You can't let her do this." She said desperately looking at Sasuke, he shook his head slightly.

"If she want to do it then it would help us a lot." Sakura stared at him.

"But-" She started and Sasuke cut across her.

"Can you get her to come in and we can talk about it?" Sakura shook her head, she was barely listening to his words, Sasuke shook her slightly, his hands gripping her upper arms.

"Hey, listen to me," He said and Sakura stared up at him, "Do you really think that we would let anything happen to her?" He asked and Sakura shook her head numbly

"She's never met him." She said blankly.

"But she can stop anyone else from running into him." Sasuke said firmly, her frowned at her, Sakura's hands were shaking and she slumped against him.

"She'll be safe right?" She asked.

"We won't let anything happen to her." Naruto said coming up next to her and placing a hand on her back. Sakura smiled at them although they all noticed it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Okay, I'll tell her."

* * *

"So what time do I leave?" Ino asked as they stood outside the pub a few days later they glanced at Sasuke who looked at Sakura.

"I left at gone ten." She said with a shrug.

"If he isn't there or doesn't come in here within half an hour leave and we'll move on to the next place." Ino nodded.

"Right," She said, "And then you'll be able to lock him away?" She asked and Sasuke nodded.

"No judge should be able to acquit him with what we've got," He said firmly and Ino smiled.

"Okay, I'm ready," She said and took a deep breath, she smiled back at them, "Wish me luck." She walked into the pub with her head held high. Sai glanced at Sakura.

"Interesting friend you've got there," Sakura smiled. When Ino had first arrived at the police station she had given them such grief for not catching him sooner and then insulted their tiny office space within the same breath.

"She means well," Sakura said with a wry smile.

"Are you sure you want to be here?" Naruto asked Sakura and she gave him a cold look.

"Yes, I want to make sure Ino's going to be okay." She said and Sasuke sighed.

"We should move, in case he recognised you." Sakura nodded and they headed off towards the end of the road so they could still watch people going in and out of the pub. They fell silent waiting, leaning against the road sign and Sakura wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm.

"At least we know he's in there." Naruto said after an hour, and Sasuke nodded.

"She's coming out." He said and they saw Ino glance up and down the street as if checking for them.

She walked off towards the main road and they saw a shadow follow her out of the pub. "Let's go." Sasuke muttered and they straitened walking down the road after Ino and Sakuya.

They could see Ino heading towards the main roads and in the light of the bright street lights they saw Sakuya speed up in order to grab her. Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a look and they simultaneously broke into a run to sprint down the road to catch up.

"Come on," Sai said and he and Sakura sped up as well. She head Ino's shriek and he must have grabbed her and Sakura stumbled slightly as she tried to suppress the memories she had associated with that man. Sai slowed and turned to face her, she collapsed on the road on her hands and knees and Sai approached her cautiously.

"It's okay," He said hesitantly, "Look she's safe, they've got him." Sakura glance up to see Ino standing there. Her arms were folded but from her posture it looked like her confidence had gone. She was slumped slightly and looked more defensive.

Sakura turned her head slightly and saw that Sasuke had pinned Sakuya to the floor and Naruto was standing above then reciting his rights.

"Its fine," Sai continued, "It's over." He offered her his hand and helped Sakura to her feet.

"Thank you," She said softly and he smiled at her.

Sasuke and Naruto pulled Sakuya up and dragged him across the street heading in the direction of the police station. Sai followed them and Ino and Sakura stayed walking a little bit behind them all.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked and Ino smiled.

"I'm fine. Despite everything he took me by surprise that's all." She said and laughed slightly "You didn't see it though did you?"

"See what?" Ino grinned.

"Your DI Uchiha punched him in the face and Naruto hit him in the stomach what was really impressive was that they both did it at the same time." Sakura scowled.

"He's not my DI," She said. And they fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the walk.

"Thank you." Sakura said finally and Ino looked at her.

"For what?"

"Catching him, you didn't have to do that," Ino shrugged.

"I did what I though was right," She said simply and Sakura nodded.

They waited in the main entrance to the police station as they had lost track of the other three but they soon heard footsteps and Sai was walking towards them, he signalled for them to follow him to their office and they were soon joined by Naruto and Sasuke.

"It's all over now then," Naruto said, finally breaking the silence and Sasuke nodded.

"I should get going now," Ino said, "I need to get up early for work." She glanced at the three men. "Thank you for everything," She said. And left they stood in silence for a while listening to the echoing of her footsteps down the corridor, Naruto stretched.

"It's always nice when you finally get the person," He muttered and then smiled at Sakura. "You must be glad."

"Yes, I'm grateful to all of you." She glanced at the doorway that Sasuke had disappeared into and found herself hesitating slightly.

"So what happens now?" Sai asked coming up alongside her. Sakura shrugged.

"I go back home, back to work and put this all behind me I guess." Naruto looked thoughtful.

"In that case," He said gleefully, "let's close this chapter of your life with a bang, we'll all go out for a meal and Sasuke can pay." Sakura stared at him wondering what twisted logic had brought him to this conclusion.

"What was that Naruto?" Sasuke demanded, leaning against the doorframe with a menacing look on his face.

"Naruto that's-" Sakura started

"Its fine," He interrupted her, "Sasuke's got plenty of money anyway."

"Not when I have to pay for your meals," Sasuke muttered, "It halves my bank balance." Naruto just grinned.

"Does that mean you'll do it?" Sasuke sighed.

"Fine," He said, "But you're paying for your own drinks Naruto, I refuse to pay for you to get drunk." Naruto grinned sheepishly and Sasuke disappeared into the next room again.

"Great, let's go." Sakura smiled at him.

"Thanks for everything Naruto." She said again and moved forward to give him a brief hug before doing the same to Sai, who stood there awkwardly.

"Hey, Sasuke! Are you coming?" Naruto shouted as he dragged to other two to the door.

"I'll get him," Sakura said pulling out of Naruto's hold and heading toward the doorway. She peered in and saw Sasuke putting some papers away.

"I heard," He said before she could open her mouth, "I'm just coming." Sakura shook her head.

"It's not just that, I wanted to thank you, for everything you've done for me, getting that man and, well, for this meal as well I guess." Sasuke glanced up at her and shrugged.

"It's my job to do that."

"But still, thank you." Sakura took a few steps towards him to embrace him like she had with the others but changed her mind and brushed her lips against his cheek in a light kiss. He stared at her.

"Sasuke!" Naruto's voice broke through the stunned silence.

"We'd better go," Sasuke said, "Come on, Sakura." She looked at him, it was the first time he had said her name.

"Okay," She said quietly, "Sasuke." She made to leave but Sasuke stopped her by grabbing her wrist. Sakura half turned to face him, he looked away from her, an awkward expression on his face.

"If you ever need anything else," He said hesitantly, "you can always come back to us for help." Sakura smiled at him, this must have been the side of Sasuke that Naruto knew. She nodded.

"I will."

* * *

**Rapist revealed**

The police caught the rapist in Konoha yesterday and his identity has been revealed as Ukon Sakuya. The small team who worked on this case have been congratulated but have refused to move out of their small office to the larger one that was offered as a reward.

One Sergeant was asked to comment on this and said that they had given up trying to second guess their boss.

Despite their success the small team of three refuse to take full credit for solving this case and say that they wouldn't have caught Sakuya so quickly without the help of an unnamed person, and the Detective Inspector and two Sergeants offer this person full credit for their success.

* * *

**Strung out in heavens high, hitting an all-time low.**

* * *

Well this was originally a one shot but it just kept getting longer so I decided to separate it.

Just to make things clear I based this on the police force worked in the 1980's with Margaret Thatcher and so on, when the police force was accused of rasism and sexism I'm not saying its anything like that now.


End file.
